The present disclosure relates generally to rack management, and more particularly to rack adapter devices and methods.
Data centers with hundreds or thousands of computing devices often mount such computing devices into racks for organizational and space efficiency purposes. A single rack may contain a plurality of servers, a plurality of storage devices, one or more network appliances to connect the devices to a network, and a power supply to power the devices. Traditionally, racks have standardized dimensions such that any piece of hardware that conforms to the rack standards may be mounted therein. Occasionally, it may be desirable to mount a computing device or other hardware within a rack where the computing device does not conform to the standardized rack dimensions. In such situations, it may be possible to mount a chassis within the rack and then mount the computing device to the chassis. However, management ports disposed on the rear of the computing devices may not be accessible from the rear of the rack when the computing device is mounted with the chassis. For instance, energized power supply equipment disposed at the rear of the rack may make it hazardous to access the management ports. Accordingly, although existing rack adaptation structures and methods have been satisfactory for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects.